New 'Friends' For Pennsylvania

September 06, 1988|The Morning Call

Some time ago, Pennsylvania dumped the old tautologicaltravel teaser "You've Got a Friend in Pennsylvania" from license plates issued to state motorists. Good idea, because it was a dumb - and ungrammatical - slogan. But, to paraphrase an old saying, with "friends" such as the ones now responsible for "selling" the state to tourists, who needs enemies? When it takes nearly seven weeks to hype the Keystone State to would-be visitors, it is time to find new friends.

The Pennsylvania Travel Council, a private trade association for the state's travel industry, got on the telephone to Harrisburg July 1 to test the state Bureau of Travel Marketing. In reaching for the phone, the group gave the commonwealth a head start because it mailed its requests for travel information to the other 49 states. In spite of that advantage, guess who came in just about last in this test? Don't bother; you're probably living there. It took 47 days for the private company hired by Harrisburg to fulfill the Travel Council's request. And that's a disgrace.

Pennsylvania is spending a whopping $12.7 million to promote tourism this year. But if those who are supposed to tell the rest of the country what a great place Pennsylvania is to visit - and it is - that's money going down a figurative hole. Shape up, Harrisburg. If Elkman Advertising of Montgomery County can't handle the job, find somebody who can. With such a beautiful and multi-faceted state, we'd like to share it with others. . . before they change their plans.